Beyond the Numbers | Leading with Love as a KPI with Utibe Bassey
In this episode of the Engineer Your Success Podcast, Dr. James Bryant interviews Utibe “T-bay” Bassey, Vice President of Customer Experience at Dominion Energy and author of Love as a KPI. They discuss the significance of love as an essential metric in business, emphasizing that how individuals perceive themselves affects overall organizational performance. Utibe elaborates on the concept of love in a leadership context, advocating for leaders to acknowledge it as a strategy rather than a mere feeling. The conversation highlights the importance of human well-being in achieving business outcomes, encouraging leaders to adopt a more empathetic approach in their organizations.
How To Leverage Friction For Safer Roads And A Fulfilling Life
Ryland Potter serves as U.S. Director at WDM, working on pavement condition measurement and friction management to help transportation agencies make informed, proactive road safety decisions. In this conversation, she traces her path from management consulting through a community grocery store that almost was, and into her current role at WDM. She reflects on what burnout taught her about updating her thinking, why she leans toward preserving options, and how she approaches change management as a daily practice — moving with what’s in front of you rather than rejecting it. Dr. James Bryant closes the episode with his own reflection on the power of habits and the systems that shape who we become.
Building the Next Generation of AEC Professionals
Most people can name a building. Very few can name the people who made it possible. Crystal Miller is on a mission to change that — and she is starting long before students ever set foot on a job site. As the program director for architecture and AEC programs at Brightpoint Community College, Crystal sits at the intersection of education, workforce development, and mentorship. In this conversation, she breaks down what it really takes to build the next generation of engineering and construction professionals — and why the pathway to the built environment starts much earlier than most people think.
What’s Working, What’s Not and What’s Coming Next 2026 Q1 Review
Most leaders finish a quarter with a feeling — good or bad — but can’t fully explain why. The problem is usually the same: they never defined what winning looked like. In this Quarterly Review episode, Dr. James Bryant pulls back the curtain on Q1 2026 at Engineer Your Success — what the numbers actually […]
Can My Business Survive Without Me
In Episode 239, Dr. James Bryant sits down with business advisor Laurie Barkman to explore one of the most common — and costly — problems in growing firms: owner dependency. Laurie explains why dependency is usually a process problem, not a people problem, and introduces her BUILT method (Blueprint, Unlock, Integrate, Lead, Transition) as a practical framework for reducing it. She also breaks down the difference between business owners who keep delaying transition and those who plan proactively for growth — and why that distinction determines your options when it matters most.
How to Access Flow State and Accelerate Your Success
Most leaders end the day exhausted — but the problem is rarely how much they worked. It is the state they were in while doing it. In this episode, Dr. James Bryant sits down with Deri Llewellyn-Davies, a former chemical engineer who has spent decades studying peak performance in extreme sport and the boardroom. Deri introduces the six ultra states — including flow, recovery, and ultra connect — and breaks down exactly what it takes to access them intentionally. If you have ever felt like your best work is just out of reach, this conversation will change how you think about your performance, your energy, and your presence as a leader.
Applying Engineering Thinking to Grow Your Business and Life
Most businesses aren’t failing at marketing. They’re failing at measurement. Andy Janaitis left a career in industrial engineering to build PPC Pitbulls — a data-driven ad agency built on one core insight: if you can’t trust your data, you can’t manage your results. In this episode, Andy breaks down how engineering thinking applies to paid advertising, why most businesses are making decisions from data they’ve never verified, and how engineers can leverage their analytical mindset to thrive in non-traditional fields.
One Things That Separates Good Managers From Great Ones
Most engineers are promoted because they’re exceptional at their craft. But nobody tells you that the skills that got you promoted are almost entirely different from the skills you need to lead.
Ben Perreau knows this firsthand. At 24, he walked into his first management role with no idea what he was doing. It wasn’t until three years later that someone asked him a simple question that changed everything: have you ever asked for feedback?
His response? “I’m fine. Things are going well.”
In this episode, Ben and James dig into why frontline managers are chronically undersupported, what it takes to close the gap between high performer and high-impact leader, and why feedback isn’t just a tool for improvement — it’s the mechanism for growth.
The Everyday Sales Leader
Sales skills and leadership skills aren’t two different things — they’re the same skill set. Drew Norton has spent over a decade training professionals to communicate clearly, handle resistance, and influence outcomes without pressure tactics. In this episode, he shares his three A’s framework for leaders, why introverts often outsell extroverts, and why your inner narrative is either your greatest asset or your biggest obstacle.
How to Create Brave Spaces That Unlock Your Team’s Performance
Most leaders think psychological safety means making people comfortable. Hacia Atherton disagrees. In this episode she joins Dr. James Bryant to make the case for brave spaces instead — environments where people speak up, challenge ideas, and show up without shrinking. Hacia shares how culture problems show up in your numbers first, why poor leadership rarely comes from bad intentions, and what emotional mastery actually looks like in practice. Her perspective is shaped not just by her work with organizations, but by six months in a hospital bed learning to reframe everything.